


Backup Plan

by wckdklaine



Category: Glee
Genre: Boss Blaine, Interns & Internships, M/M, Vogue Kurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-18 02:09:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14202765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wckdklaine/pseuds/wckdklaine
Summary: Kurt lands his dream internship at Vogue.com. There's only two problems. Number one, his boss smokes like a chimney. Number two, he's also incredibly hot.





	Backup Plan

Vogue.com. It was the perfect internship for a young, NYADA reject known as Kurt Hummel. Ever since his father practically forced him out of bed and onto the plane to New York after his weeklong depression after not being accepted into his dream school, Kurt had been looking everywhere for something to fill his days with. 

Truthfully, living with Rachel Berry was depressing him. Sure, the fact that every minute of living with her felt like an impromptu improv class made life exciting, but the fact that she was living her dream while Kurt just sat in the background made him feel a mixture of furious and completely and utterly bummed out. So, Kurt has decided to take it upon himself to create his own dream. Of course, Broadway would always be the right way for Kurt, but not having a backup plan was his biggest mistake. Rachel reminded him of that  _ very _ often.

So there he was, in bed on a Friday night (what’s new?) trolling fashion blogs for any new insight. Saving the best for last, he clicked on the Vogue.com website, being lured in by a title with something having to do with Patti Lupone and a stray texter in the audience of one of her shows.  _ How dare they _ , Kurt thought to himself. Clicking on the blue link, a pop-up immediately appeared once he was directed to the website.

**HELP WANTED. INTERNSHIP AVAILABLE. PRINTABLE APPLICATION HERE.**

“Oh my god,” Kurt smiled. He tried to keep his excited giggles to himself, but he couldn’t help but yelp at the opportunity sitting right in front of his face. Vogue.com! An internship! Available applications! He was sitting here, in his Bushwick apartment, staring at a lifelong dream. In almost an instant, Kurt was springing up to his printer, smile wide on his face. He was going to get this internship. How’s that for a backup plan Rachel Berry?

* * *

 

Three weeks after his application was submitted, Kurt was still on his toes at all times. He had been called in for an interview with the head of Vogue.com’s editing. The man’s name was Blaine Anderson, and damn, did the photos online not do him justice. Of course, Kurt had heard his name before. It was almost impossible for him  **not** to have. At 23, Blaine had already become the head of editing at the one and only Vogue.com and created a big city empire coming straight out of Westerville, Ohio. If that wasn’t ambition, Kurt had absolutely no idea what was.

During their interview, Kurt had held his head high despite  _ sort of  _ feeling like he had to blow chunks. He put up the front that his confidence was unshaken, and he felt as if Blaine didn’t see through his facade. He confidently handed the shorter man his fashion journal, the one he had recorded every single new outfit he had worn since freshman year. “Everyday is a day for a new, bold choice,” he had told Blaine. Blaine ended the meeting with a faint smile, saying he would keep in touch and that Kurt was for sure a strong contender for this position.

Now, Kurt really wished his self confidence wasn’t such an act. It had been two weeks since the interview and Kurt had heard nothing back. He was starting to lose hope in just about every dream he had. Then, he heard his phone ring. Probably just Rachel. She left her British Theatre textbook at home at least one day each week, and every time Kurt had to go get it to her. Maybe he could just be a maid to Rachel Berry his whole life. Would she pay good whenever she was a big broadway star? Probably not.

Kurt sighed and trotted over to his phone, not eager to answer the call. When he flipped it over his heart sunk all the way down to his perfectly styled Timberlands.

**Vogue.com**

He took a deep breath and put on his confident voice.

“You can do this,” he told himself, “you’re Kurt freaking Hummel.” He slid the answer button ever so timidly and spoke into the phone.

“Hello,” he spoke in his most light, but strong voice.

“Hi, is this Kurt Hummel?” He recognized that voice. It was Blaine. Blaine Anderson, fashion icon and maybe the sexiest man alive, was calling him. And it wasn’t even a wrong number!

“Yes, this would be him,” Kurt smiled thoroughly.

“Well well, I have some news for you, that I think would be of great pleasure to hear,” Blaine too, was on the other side of the phone smiling.

_ As long as it’s coming from you, I’ll listen to anything _ , Kurt thought to himself. Focus Kurt! This could be your future he’s talking about.

“Oh, and what would that be?” Kurt teased. He was feeling bold, his morale rising to an almost unreacheable level after picking up the phone.

“Well, Mr. Confidence, you got the internship. Congrats!” Blaine talked through a giggle.  _ Fuck, that was cute. _

Kurt felt the smile crawl onto his lips and the soft giggle come up to his throat almost immediately. He held it back, barely being able to handle himself. Come on Kurt, be a professional!

“Thank you Mr. Anderson! Thank you so much! You really won’t regret this! I look forward to working with you!”  _ Oh my god Kurt, you sound like you’re in middle school. Could you just chill? You don’t want him thinking he’s working with a suck ass _ , Kurt cursed to himself.

“Oh I know I won’t,” Blaine said smugly.

“And please, it’s Blaine. I am way too young to be Mr. Anderson, don’t you think?” Blaine said, sass and confidence exerting in every word he spoke.

You could practically hear Kurt’s blush over the phone. “Oh yes, definitely. Sorry about that  _ Blaine _ ,” Kurt made sure to emphasize that last word.

Blaine smiled into the phone and continued, “You’ll start at 8:30 sharp on Monday. I hope that works for you.”

“That’s absolutely perfect,” Kurt replied.

“Oh, and Kurt?” Blaine countered.

“Yeah?” Kurt said, his voice almost cracking.

“Wear something cute,” Blaine said, ending the call.

Kurt sighed and flopped back onto his bed. Oh boy, this was going to be one interesting internship.

* * *

Kurt sauntered into the Vogue.com headquarters on Monday morning, arriving a half an hour before he was scheduled. He had promptly boarded the train from his Bushwick apartment, coffee in hand, confidence radiating from himself. Thinking of what Blaine had said, Kurt had chosen his outfit the night before, spending a less than reasonable time electing his ensemble. He had decided on a white button up, covered by his favorite blue vest. _Too plain,_ Kurt had thought. He immediately chose a polka dotted ascot to top the outfit off, along with a plain pair of black slacks.

_ You look great, your boss is going to love you, _ Kurt said to himself. Courage. It got him through his gruesome high school years, and it would get him through a thing just as discouraging, called life.

Kurt sashayed his way to the front desk, wielding the same false certainty he had put on in his interview with Blaine. He greeted the blonde, perky woman at the desk with a smile.

“Hello! I’m Kurt Hummel. I’m the new intern. Blaine Anderson interviewed me,” he spoke with a smile, unfaltered by the huge, bland building that surrounded him. The woman smiled back at him and spoke with an uncertain clarity.

“Oh! So you’re who Blaine has been talking about. He seems very fond of you.” Kurt blushed at that. The Blaine Anderson? Fond of him? The thought was completely foreign and impossible to Kurt.

The honey-haired woman picked up her phone and pressed a button, seeming to automatically connect her to someone.

“Yes, Blaine he’s here. I know it’s early. Alright I’ll let him know.” She spoke in a quiet tone before hanging up the phone. She looked back at Kurt with the same gummy smile as before.

“Mr. Anderson will be with you shortly. Feel free to have a seat if you want,” she said.

Kurt looked back at the black, stylish looking sofa behind him. He had been walking from the station for a while, and chances were he would be on his feet all day anyways. Why not?

He observed the surroundings of the room carefully, nervously waiting his bosses’ arrival. Many men and women alike, wandered the hallways and rooms of the office with the same genuine smile plastered to their faces. Kurt had already named it the Vogue Effect, and he hoped it would hit him soon enough. Everyone here seemed so friendly, completely different than what Kurt had pictured. He pictured fights for the spotlight. Who had the best ideas? Who could get these ideas off the ground? He basically pictured the New Directions, but in the new, real world. Instead, everyone was friendly and welcoming. Kurt couldn’t count how many times he’d been welcomed, and everyone was so polite to each other. Maybe this place wasn’t as bitchy as it was always portrayed to him as.

Kurt caught himself in thought as a shorter, black haired man loitered over to him, same exact set smile on his face. He had beautiful, big hazel eyes that entranced Kurt. He was wearing a simple outfit, consisting of red skinny jeans, a black, button-up polo, and a red, white, and black striped bow tie. Kurt thought he resembled a schoolboy, which made him smile. Blaine was absolutely too cute.

“Hello Mr. Hummel, you’re early,” Blaine smiled. He took Kurt’s hand and shook it firmly. Wow, did he have big hands or was that just Kurt?

Composing himself, Kurt spoke back with assurance, “Oh no, if I can’t call you Mr. Anderson, I definitely cannot be Mr. Hummel.”

Blaine laughed and nodded. His laugh was positively the most precious thing Kurt had ever heard. It made a smile creep onto his face as well.  _ This is completely unprofessional, Kurt. He’s your boss! _

Blaine continued the conversation as they walked, on the way to Blaine’s first meeting of the day. Kurt would be an intern of course, with the jobs of taking notes and fetching coffees, but Blaine encouraged ideas from everyone. He explained that needing ideas coming from all sides was important.

“Sometimes, people in power are overwhelmed with other things, and creativity isn’t their strong suit,” He explained.

Blaine took concepts from everyone, and tried to conform them to try and fit the Vogue.com feel. Kurt smiled as Blaine told him this, completely overcome with new inspiration.

As they entered the conference room, Kurt couldn’t help his eyes from lighting up. It was completely different than he had imagined. This was nowhere near a stereotypical conference room you see in the TV shows. A clear table that almost took up the whole room was accented with brightly colored flowers, and chairs of all different colors. The walls were painted all abstract, contrasting shades, and it looked completely insane.

Blaine turned and noticed Kurt’s doe eyed expression as he looked around the room, which made him chuckle.

“This is our brainstorming room,” Blaine explained, “When I got here, it was completely bland. The only thought I had in this room was boring. I decided to revamp it to be more my style. Big ideas come out of this room, nothing would’ve come out of the other.

Kurt listened intently and accidently let a small, “You’re a genius,” slip from his lips. This caused another eruption of laughter of Blaine.

“Come on Kurt, the meeting’s almost about to start,” Blaine patted the younger man on the shoulder and pulled out a chair for him, causing a small pink tint to form on the taller man’s face. Damn his porcelain and well moisturised skin! The rest of the members on the editing committee entered the room and Blaine started the meeting, declaring this week “Unexpected Leather” week. A giggle erupted from Kurt’s lips and he immediately covered his mouth, embarrassed. Blaine looked at the boy from his place at the head of the table, let out a small, barely recognisable smirk, and continued speaking, thoroughly intrigued by his intern at the table.

 

* * *

In the three months that Kurt had been working at Vogue, he had learned three things about the mysteriously alluring Blaine Anderson.

1.) He’s a complete flirt.

Not just with Kurt, but  _ especially  _ with Kurt. Any chance that he could (that would be deemed workplace appropriate) he always had his hands on Kurt. It could be something little, like when Kurt would take a stack of papers from him, his hands would linger on Kurt’s for just a  _ little  _ too long to be friendly. It seemed as if any chance that Blaine had to get Kurt alone, he did. There were subtle comments such as, “This is completely unprofessional, forgive me, but Kurt, has anyone ever told you that those pants really do something for your ass.” Of course, Kurt would blush at these comments, but he would just brush them off. Even though he wasn’t  _ this  _ flirty with all the other guys at Vogue didn’t mean he was into Kurt. Right?

2.) He has an angelic voice.

Of course he did. Model-type perfect, curly haired, business savvy Blaine Anderson just  _ had _ to have another thing going for him didn’t he? Kurt had accidently walked in on him just humming a few times, but he more often than not busted in when Blaine was having a full on jam session. Only a few times, at the beginning of their workplace relationship, had Blaine been embarrassed by this. By now, Kurt was getting invited to join the party, both of them dancing on top of desks and belting out top 40 hits like there was no tomorrow. This was pretty much the best internship  _ ever _ .

3.) He has a really _ really _ disgusting habit.

Cigarettes. Kurt completely  _ hated  _ the smell of a cigarette. Anytime Kurt heard Blaine even mention a smoke break, he physically cringed. Kurt couldn’t fathom getting addicted to something that tasted so terrible and did absolutely nothing to help him.

It was a Thursday in mid-January when Blaine asked Kurt to join him outside. Kurt looked back up at him, eyes wide as a deer caught in headlights. Blaine looked back with the same expression on his face, eyebrows raised.

_ Oh my god,  _ Kurt thought. _ He’s finally gonna fire me. I just know it. I knew he could tell I was crushing on him and there’s no way in hell he could reciprocate. _ Kurt shut up his own thoughts for a minute and let out a dumbfounded nod, standing up from his fuzzy, champagne-colored chair.  _ Goodbye beautiful chair, I’ll miss you. _

Kurt followed Blaine outside like a lost puppy, leading as far behind Blaine as he could. The elevator was dead silent on the way down. The suspense was killing Kurt on the inside. Why couldn’t he just say it now and get it over with? There’d be less damage to Kurt’s heart if he did it that way.

They made their way outside and Blaine reached in his pocket.  _ Oh no _ , Kurt thought.  _ It’s really over.  _ Kurt could feel the tears pricking at his eyes, completely prepared to blame it on the cold, New York weather. Blaine removed his hand from the pocket of his blue pea coat that Kurt had to say framed his body  _ perfectly _ . To Kurt’s surprise, no papers of termination came out of Blaine’s pocket. Only a green pack of menthols.

Kurt looked at Blaine, boggled.

“Want one?” Blaine offered with a wink. Kurt still looked at Blaine with the same expression, which worried Blaine.

“Hey are you alright? Sorry I’ve never invited you out with me before, I just didn’t want to make you uncomfortable,” Blaine spoke softly, his eyes giving off the same concerned look.

Kurt continued to stare at Blaine, until he cut himself out of the stupor.

“Oh, um yeah. It’s fine. I’ll take one,” Kurt spoke quietly still on edge. He had no idea what he was doing. Kurt Hummel  _ did not  _ smoke, especially not in front of hot guys outside of the world’s most famous fashion complex.

Blaine’s worried expression faltered and a dazzling smile took its place. He reached in the clover colored box and pulled out a white stick, complete with gold lining in the center. He handed it over to Kurt.

_ Oh my god, what am I doing,  _ Kurt thought, as he stuck the alabaster stick in his mouth. Blaine lit his own cigarette, taking a drag and ashing it lightly on the ground.

He looked over at Kurt, cigarette still lining the center of his mouth. Kurt couldn’t lie, it was kind of hot. Blaine reached in his mouth and grabbed the cigarette, discarding it from it’s comfortable resting position on his lips.

“Need a light?” Blaine laughed. Kurt nodded absent-mindedly and let Blaine light the cigarette that was resting in between his smooth lips with his own cigarette.

Kurt saw the flame take up his own pasty, thin stick and took in a draw, silently praying that his first time with a cigarette wasn’t as bad as everyone’s was in high school.  _ No loud hacking, please _ , Kurt thought.

His prayers went unanswered though, and he let out a firm, rattled cough as soon as the sharp, unfamiliar substance entered his body.

Blaine looked over with wide eyes, immediately rushing towards Kurt and letting out fits of “Are you okay’s?” and “I’m sorry’s.” Kurt finally stopped his fit, completely mortified. His face was beet red, but luckily he could blame that on the icy New York day.

“Jesus Kurt are you alright? Are you alright? I’d just assumed that you’d smoked, I’m so sorry. That was so stupid of me. What the fuck was I thinking?” Blaine muttered, voice riddled with concern. He kept rubbing circles into Kurt’s back even after he’d finished coughing. 

Kurt smiled up at Blaine and dropped the cigarette, stomping on it. Kurt couldn’t help but be flattered that Blaine was so concerned, and it make hope surge through his heart. It also gave him the audacity to reach up and cup Blaine’s full cheeks in his hands.

“Hey I’m fine Blaine. I’m a big boy, I could’ve said no,” Kurt spoke in almost a whisper, as if he was keeping something from someone. Blaine looked up at him and met his smile with his own.

Confidence raging through Kurt, he surged forward and connected their lips, no concern for consequences whatsoever. Blaine immediately responded with the same reaction, connecting their lips with no hesitation at all. Blaine dropped the cigarette between his fingers to the ground and brought his hands to Kurt’s side, clinging on.

Kurt immediately jerked back once he realized what was happening and touched his fingers to his lips, in shock.

“Oh my god, Blaine I don’t know what came over me. I’m so sorry, _ fuck _ ,” Kurt spoke timidly. Blaine looked up at the other boy, admiring his swollen lips.

“Kurt,” Blaine took a step forward, “Did that really seem like something you should be apologizing for?” He grabbed Kurt’s smaller hand and connected it with his own.

“But, I just thought..” Kurt trailed off, but picked himself up seconds later. “You know the whole boss thing? I don’t want it to seem like I have ulterior motives and I didn’t know if you saw it as an inappropriate thing, dating an intern”  _ Kurt it was one kiss, why are you jumping to conclusions?  _ He cursed himself in his mind.

“Slow down and breathe Kurt,” Blaine spoke calmly, trying to coax Kurt down from his panic.

“Truthfully, I’m fine with the whole itern thing if you are. We just can’t let anyone in there know,” Blaine looked around, suddenly alarmed someone else had come out for a smoke break. Thankfully it was all in his imagination.

Kurt relaxed and looked at Blaine, a faint grin coming upon his face.

“It’s definitely not a problem for me,” Kurt took the hand of the man in front of him, curls hung down upon his forehead. Blaine smiled back at Kurt and put his hand on his cheek, stealing a quick peck before they separated and started walking back inside, slightly more skip in their steps than before.

_ Yep definitely the best internship ever _ , Kurt thought.


End file.
